Great Lakes Council says it is not responsible for the clean up of houses near the site of an explosion in June which destroyed a house, killed the occupant and scattered asbestos across the neighbourhood.

A public forum at Port Pirie has been told there is community support for legislation before the South Australian Parliament which would help pave the way for redevelopment of the regional city's lead and zinc smelter.

As the carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere tick past 400 parts per million, it's a timely reminder that the political misery global warming has caused in Australia so far is just the beginning.

While Tony Abbott's relentless and effective campaign against the carbon tax has seen support for the Government haemorrhage, this week's Essential Report suggests the Coalition is headed for its own human-induced climate pain.

The Coalition's climate policy is not only less popular than the carbon tax - a feat right there - the support it does attract comes from those who dismiss the science of climate change.

On this episode of the Environment Quarter, the great Crown of Thorns starfish cull on the Barrier Reef, the mystery of the missing whale tail in Tasmania, and China releases details of a provincial carbon trading scheme to combat its choking pollution problems.